Third Parties History

     In the political system of the United States many barriers and obstacles exist for Third Parties. In the current style of United States politics the Media plays a crucial role in the system, and also posses numerous obstacles for Third Parties. The media often tends to focus on the ?Two Party Horse Race? and neglects the third parties involved in the race. A Third Party Presidential Candidate can not enter into a televised debate unless he has atleast fifteen percent of the popular vote in five major polls. Then there is the process of getting on the ballot in

Although no third-party candidate has ever won a U.S. presidential election, I disagree that a third party candidate has only slightly affected the elections. Third-party candidates rarely win elections, but they can split parties. That can affect the outcome of an election when a third-party candidate is especially strong, or when the race between the two other candidates is especially close. Third-party candidates exert influence by focusing the election on particular issues and taking votes away from major candidates. During the 2000, election, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader took votes away from Democrat Al Gore, thus contributing to the loss to George Bush. The most successful of the third parties in any one election was

I agree with this statement because third parties are not very well known enough to get the presidential election and have never had a party member elected into the presidential office. Third party influence is not very high so even though the option is there, more people are likely to vote for the more well known Democratic and Republican than the third party, which means third party candidate votes

In order to avoid losing voters to third parties, the two major parties are often forced to adopt positions championed by third parties. To fully comprehend why third parties exist, it is important to first be able to identify the numerous challenges they face in order to gain any sense of credibility.

Third party candidates have the potential to play a significant role in influencing the outcome of elections. In 2000, Ralph Nader, the green party candidate for President, was said to have handed the election to George W. Bush after he received 97,488 votes in the swing state of Florida (Baughman). Ralph Nader was accused of taking votes away from Al Gore, evidently costing him the election. Most recently, third party candidate Gary Johnson was accused of swinging the election in Hillary Clinton’s favor when he received 9% of the popular vote in the state of New Mexico.

Another reason for the insignificance of third parties and the reason for the two party system is the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system. Unfortunately for third parties, the two main parties always tend to come out with the majority even if they don’t win the popular vote. An example of the unfairness of this voting system is in 2008 the independent party of America managed to get 1 in every 5 votes but still didn’t manage to gain seats. Having said that, FPTP in theory allows for a strong stable government with a hefty majority providing they dominate congress and the legislature.

The investigation aims to evaluate the significance of third party candidates in the US presidential election of 1892. In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt famously split the vote of the Republican party as a third party candidate, and the investigation resolves to assess whether a third party candidate changed the outcome of the election in 1892. The investigation will focus mainly on the influence of one particular candidate from the Populist Party, James B. Weaver, as he won several electoral votes but will also include John Bidwell of the Prohibition Party who also drew in votes, although he did not gain an electoral vote. The candidate from the Socialist Labor Party will be excluded from the investigation as he did not play a significant role in the election. A focus of the investigation will be of the political views of those associated with the Populist party and Socialist party as well as why they chose the a third party ticket over the major party candidates running. Two sources, Populism and Political Realignment by L. Patrick Hughes and Populist Party Platform (1892) published by the Omaha Morning Herald, will be evaluated for use in the investigation to demonstrate the purposes, values, and limitations of the sources in context of the investigation.

It is defined as a system where two major political parties dominate voting at nearly all elections that take place and the elected members form part of either party. The two major Parties in America are the Democrats and Republicans. The arrangement is such that all the parties who are elected form part of wither parties and it is very rare that a third party win any seat in the legislature. There are three types of third parties. These are the single issue, the candidate driven and the ideological. The single issue is made up of the peace and freedom and the independent party. The candidate driven is built up of the reform, Bull Moose and the green. The libertarian and socialist form part of the ideological party.

The way that the citizens of the US can swing the votes of others id by having a third party. Third parties can have a negative or positive affect depending on which side you are on. Like in the 20044 election the green party's candidate Ralph Nader affected the democrats in the most negative way. He took the attention off of the democrats candidate and the votes went George W. Bush after a series of recounts (DOC #6). This is just another way just how confusing and how twisted ones vote could get due to the how the electoral court

Proponents further dispute that the Electoral College is a chief factor in contributing to the political stability of the nation by promoting a two party system. This is simply true because it is extremely complicated for a new or minor party to win enough popular votes in a sufficient amount of States to have a chance of winning the presidency. The realistic effect of the Electoral College is to practically force third party movements into one of the two major political parties. In this method of integration, third party movements are obliged to compromise their more fanatic ideas in order to stand a fighting chance against the two main parties in elections. Third parties should be considered just as big of a contender in elections as the

In a political atmosphere where it is easy to be grouped up in either conservative or liberal, it is harder to see such an easy split more and more each day. Non-traditional candidates are now emerging into the political arena that in prior elections would have been scoffed at. Whether we are talking about the unusually high polling Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, the Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders or the Authoritarian Republican Nominee, Donald Trump, It is getting harder and harder to ignore the rise they are having. The two major political parties will have to adapt to these emerging ideologies or face the threat of the dreaded “third party”.

The party stated with Thomas Jefferson when the party was known as the Jefferson’s Republicans and they were against the Federalist party and their domestic ideas. The Democrat chose the donkey as their symbol because of Andrew Jackson who was nicknamed “jackass”. He was named that because of his popular position of “let the people rule” idea. The Democratic party was officially created in 1848. During the Civil War within the party they were a lot fighting between those who supported slavery and those who opposed slavery. This deep rift between the supporter division led to the creation of a new Democratic party the one we know today.

From my studies in Political Science it is not hard to understand that the United States political system is dominated by two political parties; the Republican Party, and the Democratic party. This is known as a two-party system, the definition of a two party name is evident from the name. A two party system functions on two parties, much like United States politics this is confusing because more than two parties are allowed to compete in elections. In America, any party outside of Democrats or Republicans is referred to a “Third Party”. My research paper will focus around one of the third parties, The Libertarian party. This paper will set up necessary knowledge through an exploration of the ideals of the party, and where

America is vastly known as a country boundlessly pursuing equality in all facets of life. In this seemingly endless quest for equal opportunity, there has been one lurking negation; our election system. The addition to equal representation in public funding and on the ballot will create variability and allow Americans to entrust their vote in a political format that more closely aligns with democratic philosophy. Therefore, a shift away from a bipartisan, a two party, dominated election system would not only be a healthy change for American electoral satisfaction, but for the future of third party politics. Unfortunately affluence and inherent wealth have played a large role in this divide between a true democratic election and our present biased, broken, and benyne system.

Today’s economy centers itself around the political parties today that are created with the intent of efficiently demonstrating the many shared opinions of thousands of individuals across the United States. Among them all, the two parties that attract the most attention are Democrats and Republicans who are often seen constantly creating tension among each other and campaigning/competing for political control in our country. But there are other parties such as third or minor parties whom are denied chances to express their views. These parties are considered minors in the increasingly competitive environment of the United States. From a public standpoint, minor/ third parties are considered less attractive because they are formed with the intent